In Pawnee legends, the Kingfisher figures with the wolf. There was a wolf who was lodge brother to Manabozho. One day he went forth and returned no more, and Manabozho mourned, for he loved him. So he followed his tracks to the Big River; and he asked a kingfisher if he had seen a wolf […]
Category: Folklore
Bird stories, Bean Goose (Anser fabalis)
Gabriel hounds in Scandinavia are the bean geese calling to one another in their nocturnal journeys having a singular resemblance to the yelping of beagles. The story is that Gabriel, obliged to follow this airborne pack, is said to be human-headed, high in the dark air, as a punishment for having once hunted on Sunday. […]
Bird Stories, Beach Stone Curlew (Esacus magnirostris)
In ancestral times there lived an owl who possessed two big dogs. Each day he went hunting with them. One day, Beach Stone- curlews, who lived nearby, went out to hunt, leaving their children playing at home. The owl, seeing that they had gone, came down from the cliffs and, pointing out the young curlews […]
Bird stories, Bateleur Terathopius ecaudatus
The Mbuti tribe believes that if a pregnant woman or her husband eat this bird, a baby with an extraordinary large head may be born to them. The Tembo tribe of the Congo consider the species as a cure. Its feathers and claws are used to cure benign epilepsy. For the medical treatment, feathers and […]
Bird stories, the Barnacle Goose (Branta leucopsis)
So called from the old legend which declared this bird to be produced from trees, resembling willows, which grew in the Orkney Isles ; it being also believed that each end of the branch produced small round balls, which, when ripe, dropped into the sea, and then appeared as a perfect goose. There is a […]
Bird stories, more Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)
The Basques tell that once upon a time a bit of straw was blown into the Blessed Virgins eye. The redbreast (in Basque Chindorra), who was sitting on a bush close at hand, beheld her tears. What did he do? He flew off at once to tell the swallow, and then, carrying in his bill […]
Bird stories, Band-tailed Manakin (Pipra fasciicauda)
The use of whole animal from Band-tailed Manakin (P. fasciicauda) to attract more business and to use forgood luck and money making. the Band-tailed Manakin is also utilized during the performance of umbanda rituals. Umbanda is the most widespread Afro-Brazilian religion in the country, and medical treatments using popular folk medicines often occur in umbanda […]
Bird stories, Australian Pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus)
It is said that when they make their nests in the dry deserts, they carry the water to their young in the vast pouches, and that the beasts of prey come there to quench their thirst, sparing the young. Ingersoll, Ernest, 1852-1946. Birds in legend, fable and folklore. New York, London Longmans, Green and co., […]
Bird stories, American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos)
The Seri, an exclusive and backward tribe inhabiting the desert-like island Tiburon, in the Gulf of California, ascribe the creation of the world, and of themselves in particular, to the Ancient of Pelicans, a mythical fowl of supernal wisdom and melodious song who first raised the earth above the primeval waters. Ingersoll, Ernest, 1852-1946. Birds […]
Bird stories, American Robin (Turdus migratorius)
Among the Chippewas, when a son became old enough to leave boyhood behind, it was necessary for him to pass through twelve days of fasting, during which the great Manitou would come to him and free him from his childhood’s nature and instead give to him the strength and endurance of a braver manhood. One […]